Exam Day Approaches

Thursday, November 12, 2009 is the big college extrance exam day in Korea.

If you drive or take another mode of transportation to work in the morning, you may want to give yourself some extra time. It can get a bit crazy on the roads.


Some companies will open a little later than usual to give their employees time to get to work after the morning craziness. If you have some kind of appointment or need to do some business first thing Thursday morning, you might want to reconfirm the times just in case. This is especially true if where you need to go is near a local high school.

Also the Korea Times had an article today that some flights will be delayed or re-routed during the listening portion of the test.

You can read the article HERE.

On a related note, the "Cheering squads," that usually are present near the gates to encourage test takers, won't be present this year.


The education guru's in Seoul have, from what I've been told, put a moratorium on any cheering before the test. Too bad. I really liked watching the cheering, hugs and all that before the test.

The Package and The Link

Yesterday, I received the shark cartilage that was being held hostage by Korea Customs because it came in too many bottles. So, I'm a happy camper about that.

I also want to pass on a link to a pretty good directory of things Korean. I found it by cruising Dave's ESL. It is www.koreannewsfeeds.com .

"Korean news feeds" doesn't have everything, of course, but it seems to be a good place to start if you want to find out what's happening in and around Korea.

Have a great day.

News Pictures From The Language Festival

I thought I'd post the pictures that accompanied the stories, in the local papers, about the language festival (aka: "forced fun for EPIKeans"") that happened last weekend.






I've spoken with a few of the teachers that worked at the festival. Some told me that they had a lot of fun. Other EPIKeans said that, as a result of working at the festival, they never want to have children. While a small percentage of EPIKeans are thinking of starting a petition to have retroactive abortion legalized in Korea.

I guess it was an interesting day all around. From what I can gather, the Korean side thinks the festival was a success. So, congrats EPIKeans! Enjoy your day(s) off. From what I've heard, some of you deserve it.

Importing Health Supplements

Just a word to the wise: If you are a health nut and wish to import some kind of LEGAL supplements, there is a strange limit to how much you can import before Korean Customs raises a red flag.

Apparently, if you import something and it comes in more than 5 bottles, the shipment will be stopped by Customs. I say this because I have a package sitting at Customs right now awaiting clearance.

A few weeks ago I ordered Omega 3 and Shark Cartilage from my favorite health food supply house in the U.S. However, this week I only received the Omega 3. I also received a letter from Customs advising me that they needed additional information on where I bought the shark, the website, how much it cost, etc. before they would release the remaining portion of my order. So, confused as usual, I decided to call Customs and see what the deal was with the shark.

Now here is where it gets strange - even for the "Land of the Not Quite Right." I ordered a lot more Omega 3 than shark cartilage. So, I figured if anything would raise a flag it would be the Omega 3. However, when I called Customs I was told that the reason I received the Omega 3 and not the shark is because the Omega 3 came in 3 huge friggin bottles whereas the shark cartilage came in 6 small bottles. The amount of the individual tablets or weight didn't matter, only how many bottles it came in. Strange, huh? If it comes in 6 bottles or more, and/or (?) is worth more than 150,000 Won, then you have to pay an import tax. I think that is what he meant. I understood about the bottles, but the amounts of Won he was throwing around confused the crap outta me. Actually, I think he was as confused as I was, but that's a different story.

Oh well. I faxed the letter to Customs yesterday. We'll see how long it takes for my order to get here.

Stay warm.

Replacing the TOEFL??

I read where the Education guru's are planning to replace the TOEFL with a locally produced test in Korea. I have heard about this before. The stories usually surface after a report on Korea's piss-poor ranking with regards to TOEFL or TOEIC test results worldwide. Some have commented that the planned Korean English is a result of the poor rankings. It is akin to "If you can't pass the test, then change the test."

Besides the idea of such a test being "pass/fail" there are a number of other problems with the plan. But that subject is for another post. I did get a laugh out of the following sentence though:

The 69-year-old former president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies expects the new test to have economic benefits of replacing the "imported" TOEIC and TOEFL exams, as well as improving the level of English education.

The emphasis on "imported" was predictable. I guess they don't realize that English is also "imported."

But that is not what really caught my eye. What interested me was the discussion of the EIKEN or Japanese produced English test. In particluar I read the following:

"EIKEN is not just recognized in Japan but also in the United States and Australia, where English is the native language,"

Besides the obvious lack of the important word "some" in the sentence, the quote doesn't tell the whole story.

So, being that I had a little time on my hands I did a little looking around and found the list of colleges where the EIKEN is accepted. You can see the list HERE.

If you read the list carefully, you will see a lot of community colleges or 2 year colleges and just a very few, what I would call, big name schools. I wonder how the students who use the EIKEN for admission compare to the students who used the TOEFL/TOEIC? If I ever get around to finishing my Masters in Education I may investigate that for my thesis.

As I mentioned previously, I have some other problems with the issue, as described in the article, but then I remembered that the story was in the Korea Times, where truth and accuracy are an after thought. So I decided not to waste my time.

It's getting cold. Make sure to stay warm - an outside the cough and sneeze radius of your students!

How many days?

How many days? That is a question I ask every 3d Year student I talk to at my school. Depending on the day they usually respond "sigh...15 (or 14 or 13, etc)." Now to someone who isn't familiar with the education scene in Korea, it may be confusing and they may wonder "How many days until what? or "How many days since...What?" or, if you are in the U.S. or Canada or the UK, and you are speaking to a high school girl, it may even mean "How many days ... are you late."

But in Korean high schools "How many days.." means only one thing. It means "How many days until the College Entrance Exam."

The 대학수학능력시험, or "수능" ("Soo Neung") will take place on November 12th this year. It will be a crazy morning for everyone - teachers, parents, police, ordinary drivers trying to get to work, airline pilots, etc. etc. It is a very, very stressful day for the students. Their entire academic career and hopes for the future will probably come down to the score they get on the exam. Yep, no pressure there. But, in effect, after the test is finished, that's it. Their high school careers are effectively finished.

I have been part of the unofficial cheering squad for our students for the past two years. I always feel bad for the students as I see them walking, through the gauntlet of cheering squads, to the test site. The looks on their faces run the gamut: fear, doubt, happiness, nervousness, confidence, resignation, etc., etc. I have seen a couple of students actually break down in tears before they even enter the exam site. We,who have been educated (relatively speaking) in the West cannot truly understand what the 수능 means to students, and their families. In some ways, it is an all-or-nothing proposition.

This year will mean a bit more for me than previous years, I think. I have been with these kids, some of whom have become very special to me, since they walked through the doors of our high school. We have walked up Hallasan together, spent hours in class together, went to contests and festivals together and have seen each other almost every school day. Now, it is their turn to take the test, and complete their high school experience. I have been wondering lately if it is also time for me to complete my high school experience. But that topic is for another post.

Some of "my" kids are great people. Some may not be the greatest students, by Korean standards, but they are really great people. I wish them all the luck. I just hope they remember what I have tried to instill in them. That is, that some number on some test paper does not equal their worth as a person or show just how talented and special they are.

If you teach at a high school or know some 3d year high school students, give them some words of encouragement, or show them that you understand the nightmare they are going through, as the test fast approaches.

So, "How many days?" 13 and counting.

WTF? and Getting the Car Washed

Yesterday, Mrs. LOJ took my car in to have it checked. For the past week or so, my trusty steed has been having troubles starting. I thought it might be the battery or maybe (gulp!) the starter.

Well, about mid-morning, while chatting with my co-teacher, my cell phone gives me a message that my credit card, that Mrs. LOJ never let's me have, got hit for 105,000 Won. My reaction was to exclaim "What the fuck!!!???" My co-teacher looked at me kind of strange and asked, LOJ, what does mean "What duh puck?" I calmly told her it was a way western couples express affection. OK, OK, it was the best thing I could think of on short notice. Give me a break here.

I called Mrs. LOJ and when she answered I said "Hi! What the fuck?" My co-teacher just smiled at me. Mrs. LOJ explained that the battery was shot and needed to be replaced. She added there were a few other things that needed to be "reconnected." OK, what the hell could I do? She was there and I was at school watching my co-teacher doodle "What the fuck," surrounded by little hearts, in her notebook. Mrs. LOJ added that after the service center she would take the car to a place near our house to get it washed.

Later, Mrs. LOJ brings me the car at school and she is pissed off. She says, "I hate you. You are a pig!" Taken aback, I replied "What's the problem?" She claimed that she was never so embarrassed in her life (Other than when she took me to meet the parents the first time and they asked her "He is the best you can do?"). Uh oh. This wasn't going to be good.

Apparently, the car was a wee bit dirty. An interior/exterior washing of the car usually takes about 30 minutes for two people to do. However, it took two people over 2 hours to clean my car. Mrs. LOJ felt so bad that she bought lunch for the two people cleaning the car. She repeated "You are a pig!" I replied "Wow, it only took you 19 years to figure that out!" Not a good thing to say - I ended up having kimbap and crackers for dinner.

While the guys were cleaning my car, one of them asked "What's your husbands job?" When he found out, he laughed and replied, "Oh, I thought he was a construction worker from the looks of the car." Later, Mr. Funny Carwash Guy sought to reassure Mrs. LOJ. He commented "You don't have to worry about your husband having a girlfriend." Mrs. LOJ asked Why? You see picture of my husband? and he replied, to paraphrase, "No woman would dare ride in a car that was this dirty and smelled this bad." Gee, thanks Carwash Guy. If he thought my car was bad, he should wash my underwear sometime!

After all was said and done, it cost me 22,000 Won, and a lunch, to have my car cleaned. Before she left, Carwash Guy told (begged) Mrs. LOJ not to wait another 6 years to clean the car. He pleaded "Bring it back next month so we can have an easier time!"

Mrs. LOJ is now using "Pig!" as a little cutesy romantic name for me. I don't mind, though. I was getting a little tired of "Shit-for-brains" anyways.

Later today I think I need to talk to my co-teacher about the new English phrase she learned yesterday. Yep, that's going to be an interesting conversation.

The weather's fine, I don't have pig flu, and I have a clean car. Life is good.